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Get a pilot license in 20 hours and for $340 bucks
At some point in the last couple of years, chances are you've come across the term "very light jets" or the catchy acronym VLJ. These are Chevy Suburban-sized planes that let you avoid the hassles of flying commercial.But what about the flip-side of this trend towards the ultra-small? I'm talking about propeller planes that fit only two passengers and weigh less than 1,300 pounds. To encourage people to get a pilot's license, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has come up with a new class of licenses for these "sports planes."
Instead of the standard 40 hours of flight-time instruction as well as many hundreds of dollars you'll have to pay, you can get the sports pilot license in 20 hours and for a couple hundred of dollars. Best of all, these sports planes can cost half as less as conventional planes: $80,000 instead of something like $200,000.
Hell, even I can afford to do this (maybe).
Gallery: Reno Air Races
Curious to know what it's like to fly a 757 for a commercial airline? Follow along with Gadling's resident pilot, Kent Wien, in Cockpit Chronicles.
Filed under: Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Kent Wien Feb 6th 2008 4:38PM
Don't let the low cost sway you. These are really nice airplanes. Fun to fly, too!
Pictured is the CTSW which is made in Germany. It has a 1000 mile range and burns 4 gallons an hour while flying 130 m.p.h. Cheap to operate!
I've been drooling over it for some time. Now, to come up with the money to buy one...
If you are ready to order one of those airplanes:
http://flightdesign.com/index.php?page=product
ShadowGod Feb 6th 2008 4:53PM
Once you get your Sport license however, you'll be so hooked on flying you'll want to get your Private license anyway. I got my Private license 15 years ago, it cost me about $5000 then I imagine it's more now. But worth every penny!
Dr Bob Niewoehner Feb 9th 2008 7:17PM
I used my GI benefits after I got back from Vietnam to get both my Fixed wing and Roto craft license - good 'ol GI Bill.....been flying now for 35 years.
Justin Glow Feb 6th 2008 5:20PM
I'd really like to do something like this. Here's a good database of instructors around the country:
http://www.sportpilot.org/instructors/
Chris Apr 3rd 2008 1:04AM
Okay, so I am hooked on the idea of getting my sport pilot license having started my private pilot training years ago and stopping because of lack of time. The issue I am finding is this: Where can I actually find an instructor within reasonable distance of NYC? Seems silly but I have been looking for someone at any of the local airports but good information seems thin on the ground. Is the lack of schools with planes that meet this category the biggest flaw in this approach? You lose all of the attraction of going this route if you have to drive hours to get a lesson, especially if you want to do an accelerated training rather than once a week.
Any ideas?
Sarah Feb 6th 2008 9:04PM
Sounds like a lot of fun and still affordable!!
Kent Wien Feb 6th 2008 9:56PM
It should be pointed out that the original linked article is a bit misleading. The $340 is the price for the "Hamilton Training System" which includes a bunch of training materials for instructors.
The minimum price to get a Sport Pilot License is mentioned later in the article:
"Training runs between $2,800 to $3,500, half the price of a private pilot license, and most flight schools offer two ways to get the license."
Still, you could be flying solo with around $1500. Much more reasonable than a private, and like ShadowGod said, if you get hooked, you can use this flight time toward your private pilots license later on.
If you just want to get the taste of a flying lesson, try out www.beapilot.com where they've contracted with a bunch of flight schools around the country to offer a $99 intro flight. I mean, really. What were you going to do that was more exciting this weekend?
Go fly!
Kent
Allan Feb 6th 2008 11:12PM
A passenger flying with a "Sport Pilot" is like a sick person going to a "Sport Doctor." I don't recommend it.
Brooks Feb 6th 2008 11:18PM
I am pleasantly surprised that it took 6 comments to get to the inevitable "oh no, it's scary!" response. Good for you, first five. And Allan, if you equate the optional fun of flying with the necessary evil of going to the doctor when sick, you'll be more comfortable (and safer!) on disney.com.
Kent Wien Feb 7th 2008 7:02AM
And by all means one should only drive to that 'sport doctors' office with a CDL licensed driver, preferably in an 18 wheeler.
The items left out in sport pilot training are of no use in these airplanes. Is it important for a pilot to be an expert in VOR Navigation in an airplane that doesn't even have a VOR installed? Should the pilot be familiar with complex aircraft if it's a fixed pitch airplane design?
Fortunately the FAA realized that the private license was overkill when flying J-3 cub type airplanes away from high density airports and below 10,000 feet. That is the intent in the sport pilot license.
Justin Glow Feb 8th 2008 3:22PM
Great point, Kent.
don Feb 9th 2008 2:29PM
"To encourage people to get a pilot's license, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has come up with a new class of licenses for these "sports planes."" is a joke.
the faa faught the sport pilot lic from the gitgo. the eaa(www.eaa.org) is the folks that really got the sport pilot rating pushed through the faa quagmire. lots of lobby-ing and lots of time was spent conviencing the gov enity to accept a valid drivers lic as your medical for the sport pilot lic. the original planes that the sport pilots lic was designed for was the j3, erocupe and luscomb, to name just a few. these plane were selling for as little as $10k or less, at the time the sp lic issue was proposed to the faa. by the time it became reality, new planes started to show up for $80k plus, and were called cheap entry into flying, for the sport pilot rating.
Mitch Feb 9th 2008 4:37PM
The sport lic was a way for heavy ultralites to be used and was not intended for what it is getting away with, the comment made to me when I was training in ultralites was, if you survive your first 100 hours you will probably survive flying them ok, the biggest mistakes you will make are overconfidence, flying when you should have stayed in the hanger and waxed the plane, you cannot get enough experiance to fly correctly on 20 hours and start taking people for rides ect, you will see this getting people killed, there is just to much to learn so don't skimp on the education, it could just save someone's life.
ihatepoorpeople Feb 11th 2008 8:40PM
Obviously...commentary from two low-time pilots. The 40-hour requirement for a private pilot's licence was not enough to keep retards out of the sky. The last thing I want to see is an even lower standard for sport pilots. I'm tired of being cut off by idiots with their heads buried in a GPS because they don't know how to navigate or scan their instruments.
Ron Hermann Feb 9th 2008 3:01PM
The new "glass cockpits" have the pilots with their heads buried inside the plane instead of doing a full scan of traffic and instruments...gives more meaning to "areas of widely scattered aluminum".
woodpilot Feb 9th 2008 3:28PM
Sport pilots are VERY limited as to how far they can fly away from their base and where they can land. Spend the extra bucks and get the real thing. It is a blast. I have been flying for 25 years a love it
Carlos Diaz Feb 9th 2008 3:50PM
Your price estimate is inaccurate. A light sport aircraft engine will consume about 5 gallons an hour. Even if you use auto fuel (and not all of those engines can do that), you're talking 100 gallons for 20 hours of flying. At $3.00 per gallon, that's $300 just in fuel. The flight instructor is not going to fly for free, so you can factor in, conservatively, at $15 per hour, about $150 at least for the instructor. Then add about $50 or so for materials (books, etc.), and $60.00 to take the computerized FAA exam. Then the airplane. If you don't spend $80,000 to buy one, you have to rent it, and whoever owns the aircraft is not going to give it to you for free. So count on at least $75 or so per hour for rental. For twenty hours of flight, that's about $1500. So it is cheaper to get a sport pilot license than a private pilot license, but not as cheaply as you quoted.
WTW Feb 9th 2008 7:54PM
Your estimate is well thought thru something that the auther certainly not done. I wonder where he got his figures. I am pilot of 40 years and he is nuts. Thanks for you responce. The author certainly did not do his homework on this one.
B17BOB Jun 17th 2008 12:25PM
Flying an airplane as an amateur is a dangerous and unforgiving event. Someday you will encounter bad
weather or darkness and you will spin-in and kill yourself. The only salvation is an instrument rating, which is a long way down the line from a Sport License. Many hours flying time means NOTHING, its the EMERGENCIES that count. Talk to a military COMBAT pilot and you may learn something.
Roz Feb 9th 2008 4:43PM
I always hate to see things like this taken so lightly when there are so many lives involved, not just the buy-and-fly pilot. A recipe for disaster in so many ways. Thanks FAA.